Chapter 8
DELANEY
“Hi, Della!” Daisy sings.
I pause halfway through shutting my classroom door and glance down the hall.
The twin buns on the top of her head don’t move an inch as she bounces my way.
Space buns and yellow overalls are hard to pull off, but Daisy Mitchell can pull off anything with ease.
I’ve seen it happen on more than one occasion.
“Hi, Daisy.”
“Gosh, when’s the last time we even had a staff meeting? Any bets on what this one’s about?”
“Nothing good, most likely.”
The email was sent out halfway through the day with no warning or explanation, just the order for every staff member to attend if possible. It’s the last thing I want to do today.
Last night was one of the worst nights I’ve had in a long time.
Poppy stayed for a couple of hours before I kicked her out, demanding she go home to her man and catch up on as much sleep as possible.
It was probably pointless, considering they’re staying at Steele Ranch while their new house gets built, and from what I’ve heard, it’s impossible to sleep past sunrise out there .
The only thing I could hope for was that one of us would get a couple of hours of sleep. I knew it wasn’t going to be me.
“I’m hoping for a raise,” Daisy says.
I finally close the classroom door the rest of the way before joining her in the hall. “That’s the only way I wouldn’t be annoyed spending my evening here.”
“If they have food, I’ll keep my complaints inside.”
“That’s fair. I’ll even settle for a hot coffee.”
Daisy laughs and adjusts the strap of her massive book bag where it rests on her shoulder. That thing could knock someone out with one swing.
“Speaking of coffee, have you noticed that the pot in the staff room is always empty recently?”
I shake my head, picking up my walking speed when she starts getting a bit ahead of me. “I’ve stopped drinking the stuff in there. It’s always burnt.”
“Okay, right? I thought that they’d just stopped making it because it always tasted like ass. But no, I think someone’s just emptying the entire pot into a big mug or something and not making another one after.”
“And you’re really bothered by that,” I note, a laugh teasing my throat.
She whips her head so fast in my direction I’m shocked when it doesn’t fly off. “Yes! It’s common decency to start another pot after emptying it. That’s like using all the toilet paper and not replacing the roll.”
I pinch my lips together, staring straight ahead.
“Don’t tell me you do that, Della,” she groans.
“I live alone! If I don’t replace the roll, it’s me who has to grab another one.”
“And what if you had company? A man ?”
Sobering slightly, I roll my eyes at her. “That hasn’t happened in a long time, so I think I’m safe.”
“Until you aren’t. Then, you’ll be calling me and apologizing. ”
“Apologizing? Not a chance.”
“Yup. You will be.”
“You know, maybe it’s been me stealing all the coffee,” I say, shrugging a shoulder.
Her finger jabs into my arm. “Don’t even joke about that. I’ve had to start buying coffee every morning on my way here, and while I love the café, I’d love to not have to spend five bucks on something I could be having for free here.”
“Have you ever, I don’t know, tried making coffee at home?” I tease, eyeing the three teachers slipping into the conference room ahead of us.
“Okay, well, you see, I love Bryce, but she makes the worst coffee. I’m talking worse than the burnt stuff here. And I don’t have it in me to tell her that and take over the job. It’s safer if I just don’t go anywhere near it at all.”
“That’s acceptable, then. You’re just being a good girlfriend.”
“Exactly! You get me, Della.”
“I’ll see what I can find out about the coffee, alright? Put my sleuthing hat on.”
She grips my arm, giving it a thankful squeeze. “You’re the best.”
I flash a smile and follow her into the conference room.
We’ve got to be close to the last ones here with how crowded it is.
Several sets of eyes fall on us as we find a couple of seats near the back of the room.
It smells like burnt coffee in here, and I swallow a giggle when Daisy stares in disgust at the carafe on the table.
It’s safe to say that we stay seated while we wait for Penny to get here. Once she does, the energy in the room stays the same, relaxed but curious. Nobody seems worried about what this is about, but we’re clearly all antsy to get home.
“Hi, everyone. Thank you for staying back for this today. I know it was last-minute, and I promise it won’t take too long.”
I glance at Daisy and find her doing the same to me. Her lips twitch in a humoured smile before we look back at Penny together.
“As I’m sure you all know, the drive-in caught fire last night.”
My throat tightens as I listen, discomfort making me shift on my chair.
Penny frowns, tucking a curl behind her ear.
“I can imagine that it was a bit of a shock to hear the sirens so late, but there is good news amongst the bad. Mayor Lemieux has set forward a plan to rebuild it. That’s why I’ve asked you all to join me here this afternoon.
In addition to putting forward this rebuild, he’s asked for some help from the community, including the school. ”
“I’m sorry, Penny, are you saying that the mayor wants the drive-in fixed?” I ask, surprising myself.
The attention of the entire room falls on me, and I immediately want to make a run for it.
“Yes, he does, and I have a volunteer form for everyone to fill out on your way out. So, if you’re interested in helping, please consider adding your name,” Penny says, glancing around the room.
It doesn’t make sense. How have they figured this out in less than twenty-four hours when the drive-in has been abandoned for almost ten years? And to create such an elaborate plan?
“What exactly are we volunteering for?” Daisy asks.
There are a few hums in agreement with her question before Penny answers.
“The mayor can only allocate enough funds from the town’s budget to cover a little over half of the rebuild.
For the remainder, there will be a series of fundraisers and community events with the goal of collecting enough to cover the rest. The volunteers will include as many people from town as possible. ”
“So, we’ll be volunteering to host a few fundraisers?” Claira, the fifth-grade teacher, asks.
“Amongst other tasks. I don’t have all of the information quite yet, but once enough volunteers have been gathered, there will be a meeting at town hall to further explain.
For now, what I can share is that there will be basic cleanup groups and others in charge of organizing fundraisers and reporting to the mayor’s team. ”
It’s the most unusual thing I’ve heard in a long time.
Don’t get me wrong, Bryce’s father isn’t the worst mayor we could have been given for Cherry Peak.
While he’s done great things for the town, he’s also let us down.
I could write a list of things he could be choosing to focus on right now instead of the drive-in nobody cared about.
“If you’re interested in signing up to help, you can do that on your way out. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the form in the staff room for a week,” Penny explains.
The clipboard in her hands is set on the table at the front of the room, right beside the carafe of coffee. Daisy leans into my side, eyeing the table.
“Do you think she put that there on purpose?” she whispers.
“Maybe it’s been her stealing all the coffee.”
Her gasp is so loud Penny turns to us, not saying anything. I struggle to hold back a laugh while Daisy pops off her seat.
“If nobody else is going to write their name first, I guess I will.”
I look up at her. “Adding Bryce’s name too?”
“And yours,” she announces with a sly wink.
Without waiting for me to reply, she slips through the chairs and, like she said, is the first to sign the form. I watch closely as she writes one name, then another, and another . Mine, no doubt about it.
Another two staff members join her once she’s finished and spun around. The rest of the teachers stand, until nobody is left sitting but me.
Feeling awkward as hell, I get off my seat and adjust my jeans, pulling them up despite them already sitting perfectly on my hips. Nobody’s watching me, but I feel like they are. Watching, judging, analyzing why I wasn’t up at the table with Daisy, excited about this project.
Too many of my peers remember me from high school, and those who don’t have been reminded by gossip.
Time doesn’t really do much to make people forget about the mistakes you’ve made or the drama you caused when you live in a small town.
Everything lingers in Cherry Peak, and right now, there are too many faces in here that remember who I was when I left for university and refuse to let that woman go.
At one time, that was Darren’s girlfriend. Now, it’s the girl he tossed aside.
They’ve never cared about Delaney the person. The woman who hadn’t spoken to Darren for the entirety of his marriage. Hell, I ignored his entire family because I was too afraid to see them, let alone interfere in a marriage that broke my heart savagely in half.
“Ready to go, Della?”
I blink, clearing my head. Daisy’s standing in front of me now, trying and failing to hide a frown.
“Yeah. Did you sign us both up?”
“Of course. But I can scratch it off if you don’t want to volunteer. I’ve gone and pushed you into something again, haven’t I?”
I shake my head, rubbing her arm. “No. It could be fun.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Her eyes glow, telling me how she’s feeling before her words do. “Then I’m excited. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait before the town meeting.”
“Considering how fast the mayor got things rolling here, I doubt very long at all.”
“You sound suspicious.”
I tap her arm and encourage her to leave the room with me before saying anything else. Others have already started to filter out, and I’d feel bad about spacing out long enough to miss Penny’s final statements if I wasn’t a bit grateful for that .
Once we’re back in the hall and on our way outside, I say, “I’m not suspicious, just . . . surprised. It seems really out of place, doesn’t it? All things considered.”
“Maybe it was always the plan and we just didn’t know it? The fire could have sped things up.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I think we should at least give it a fair shot. I’d love to be able to go to the drive-in again. Especially with Bryce.”
My heart warms and aches at the same time. “It was always a good date night spot.”
“Exactly! I was too young when it was open that I never got a chance to go at all, really. Let alone with a date.”
Our age gap is hard to notice most of the time, yet it’s also why it’s sometimes easier to talk to Daisy than it is to Poppy or even Bryce.
Daisy wasn’t around to see me and Darren together.
Everything she knows now, she was told after getting with Bryce, and that means she doesn’t know the ins and outs of our history.
To her, the drive-in was just a fun date spot.
But to me and everyone else in their group, it’s the place I fell in love with Darren and where he slid a ring on my finger that I didn’t take off for four years.
“It was a great spot, Daisy. You’re right. A reno might be what it takes to bring the place back to the front of everyone’s minds,” I tell her.
She beams at me and pushes the school door open. “This is going to be really, really fun. I can feel it in my bones.”
I don’t have the heart to tell her that she probably just jinxed it.